About this Book

Book Summary

When semi-retired mob guy, DeChooch, fails to show for a court appearance, bond enforcement agent Stephanie Plum is assigned the task of finding DeChooch and dragging him back to jail.

Semi-retired mob guy, Eddie DeChooch, is caught trafficking contraband cigarettes through Trenton, New Jersey. When DeChooch fails to show for a court appearance, bond enforcement agent Stephanie Plum is assigned the task of finding DeChooch and dragging his decrepit ass back to jail. Not such an easy job, it turns out, since DeChooch has learned a lot of tricks over the years and isn't afraid to use his gun. He's already shot Loretta Ricci and left her for worm food in his shed. He wouldn't mind shooting Stephanie next.

Especially since Steph has discovered that likeable losers (and former high school classmates) Mooner and Dougie have inadvertently become involved with DeChooch. They've gotten sucked into an operation which is much more than simple cigarette smuggling and holds risks far greater than anyone could have imagined.

When Dougie disappears, Steph goes into search mode. When Mooner disappears, she calls in the heavy artillery and asks master bounty hunter Ranger for help. His price for the job? One night with Stephanie, dusk to dawn. Not information she'd want to share with her some-time live in roommate, vice cop Joe Morelli.

A typical dilemma in the world of Plum.

And on the homefront, Stephanie's "perfect" sister Valerie has decided to move back to Trenton, bringing her two kids from hell. Grandma Mazur is asking questions about being a lesbian, and Bob, the bulimic dog, is eating everything in sight -- including the furniture.

I knew something bad was going to happen when Vinnie called me into his private office. Vinnie is my boss and my cousin. I read on a bathroom stall door once that Vinnie humps like a ferret. I'm not sure what that means, but it seems reasonable since Vinnie looks like a ferret. His ruby pinky ring reminded me of treasures found in Seaside Park arcade claw-machines. He was wearing a black shirt and black tie, his receding black hair was slicked back, casino pit boss style. His facial expression was tuned to not happy.

I looked across the desk at him and tried not to grimace. "Now what?"

"I got a job for you," Vinnie said. "I want you to find that ratfink Eddie DeChooch, and I want you to drag his boney ass back here. He got tagged smuggling a truckload of bootleg cigarettes up from Virginia and he missed his court date."

I rolled my eyes so far into the top of my head I could see hair growing. "I'm not going after Eddie DeChooch. He's old, and he kills ...

Reviews

Media Reviews

USA Today

Evanovich's books are ...loads of fun. They're full of modern-day slapstick and yuck-it-up dialogue with laughs on every page. It's mystery and detecting on the lighter side, the perfect way to cleanse your palate.

Library Journal

What had been a fresh and winning formula in the earlier books has disintegrated into unamusing slapstick; there's barely a trace of mystery or plot, and the characters have become cartoons.

Publishers Weekly

All in all this is another zesty Evanovich read, but one that doesn't quite hit the high marks of her last two.

Booklist

Almost every chapter has a laugh-out-loud moment... Even Stephanie's mother gets a real moment. Funny, sexy, scary--how can we wait till next year?

Reader Reviews

Des

Janet rocks. I've never laughed so hard at a book.

Maureen

This was the first book I read by Evanovich and I couldn't stop laughing! I can't believe I never read her others. Great read!

noreen

Great book, can't wait until the next one...

m. cusick

Seven Up is definitely of Janet Evanovich's masterly works. It is held together not only by the passion between Stephanie and Morelli but also by the pending night of passion that Stephanie could share with Ranger. It keeps the responders guessing ... Read More

Readalikes

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American Ellie Cooper, deserted by her husband, has made a number of friends in China. But suddenly one of them disappears, and security organizations are hounding her for information. Contacted through an online role-playing game by a group claiming to be friends of Lao Zhang asking her for help, Ellie does the only thing she can - keep on ...

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